Monstrum Ghost Forward Magnifier

by moondog on August 24, 2024 with No Comments

At SHOT Show earlier this year I got a first look at what could potentially be a game changer. Monstrum created a 2x magnifier with an exceptionally long eye relief so that it is positioned forward of your red dot or prism. This allows you a clearer field of view than a traditional magnifier but if you use a magnified prism optic, you can multiply it’s magnification by 2x and get even higher power.

A few months later, I got my hands on one. It lived up to my expectations, surprised me in some ways, and disappointed me in others. It truly magnified the target image by 2x which really made a noticeable difference in my in PID (positive identification) of my targets at ranges beyond 50yrds.

I’ve not been a fan of traditional red dot magnifiers because of they block too much my peripheral vision, especially when flipped to the side to clear the view of the primary optic. Traditional magnifiers also have tight eyeboxes and small eye reliefs. The Ghost 2x has nearly unlimited eye relief and when positioned farther away from the face, minimizes blocking of my peripheral views.

This extreme eye relief is a key feature of the Ghost 2x, which makes it an ideal optic for scout rifles, AKs, or folding carbines like my Sub2000. Theoretically it could even be used on a pistol. This also allows it to be placed in front of magnified prism optics as well as red dots. This effectively doubles the intrinsic magnification of that prism; turning a 4x ACOG into a 8x optic.

But as Heinlein said, there is no free lunch. By adding a Ghost 2x in front of a prism, it reduces the brightness and introduces more distortion on the outer rim of the image. Moreover adding a optic in front of your primary optics aimpoint, causes the point of aim to shift; you have to zero out the Ghost 2x independent of your primary optic.In theory this could be an advantage, allowing you to set a long distance zero with the Ghost 2x to compensate for bullet drop, while keeping a point blank zero for your primary optic.

But fantasies of turning a 4x ACOG into a long range precision optic with a Ghost 2x, should be dispelled by the side-flip mount. The hinge of the side-flip will inherently never keep an absolute zero. As anybody who’s had to tighten the hinge on a kitchen cabinet knows, over time and use, a hinge will loosen up. Traditional side-flip magnifiers also have this issue but that doesn’t stop people from using them especially for 3-gun. That’s because at close to moderate distances (ie 100yrds or les) the side-hinge mount shouldn’t impact action-shooting level accuracy with man sized targets.

As I said, I’m not a fan of traditional magnifiers and for the same reasons, nor am I fan of prism optics. But the benefits imparted by this unique magnifier avoid most of those negatives. I’m looking forward to seeing how this new class of optic impacts the shooting industry.